radionics

Perhaps in no other area has
the seduction of ideomotor action created as
much mischief as it has in medical settings....Under a variety of
circumstances, our muscles will behave unconsciously in accordance with an
implanted expectation. --Ray
Hyman

...radionics or radiesthesia
depends very largely upon the dowsing faculty. ---Peter
Morrell

Radionics is a form of
energy medicine created by Dr. Albert Abrams
(1863-1924), the "dean of twentieth century charlatans."*
Abrams claimed that he was able to detect distinct energies or vibrations (radiation) being emitted from healthy and diseased tissue in all living
things. He invented devices that allegedly could measure this energy
(vibration, radiation) and he created a system for evaluating vibrations as
signs of health or disease. Here is a description of a demonstration of his
discovery:

He laid a healthy man facing west and thumping his
upper abdomen told a student to listen carefully the changes of
reverberation.

Then, he let a doctor hold a sample of cancer cells
near the subject's forehead.

He asked the doctor to touch the man's forehead with
the cancer cells in intervals of several seconds.

When a sample of the cancer cells touched the man's
forehead, the percussion sound changed from resonant sound to a dull
sound.

He concluded that the vibration of a diseased cell
sample was received by the human body and affected the human cells.

Abrams published an account of his theory
in
New Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment(1922). He also wrote
Human Energy(1919)in which he gives his account of how all
thing emanate energy. He even invented a device that, he
said, could transmit healthy vibrations to sick tissue or organs, thereby
restoring them to a healthy state. His first device was the
dynamizer:

... a small hollow fiber hose about five inches in
diameter [that contained] two electrodes which were connected to a ground
wire. The top of the Dynamizer is an ordinary condenser consisting of two
aluminum discs, an intervening piece of cardboard and a top made of
bakelite. An aluminum wire ran from the top of the Dynamizer to an
Amplifier, which is constructed on the principle of the Magnavox used on
radio receiving sets. From the Amplifier the wire passes through two
rheostats, called Reflexophones, both of which are equipped with numbered
dials and indicators. One of the rheostats is used for measuring the rate
and the other the potentiality of the electronic vibration from the blood
specimen in the Dynamizer. From the rheostats the energy is carried
through a wire to an electrode which is fastened to the forehead of a
reagent, sometimes called the subject. This reagent or subject is not the
patient, although the patient is sometimes used in that capacity. The
reagent may be anybody, either male or female, the healthier the better,
whose nervous system completes the electric circuit. In other words, the
reagent is merely part of the apparatus, and a most important part at
that.

By noting the reactions on the nerves of the reagent
as the rheostat is shifted from number to number, the physician is able to
detect what disease vibrations are in the blood specimen in the Dynamizer.
(Hudgings
1923)

That was the theory, anyway. Put a drop
of blood in his oscilloclast,
he said, and he could then see what, if anything, was ailing the donor
by comparing the radiation of the blood sample to the blood of a healthy
person.

The oscilloclast came to
be known as "the black box" (Williams 2000: 2). Abrams's treatment consisted of sending good energy to the diseased
area to counteract the bad energy. He called his treatment "electronics" or
"Radio Therapy," and his system ERA (Electronic Reactions of Abrams). In the
early 1920s, the president of the Watchtower Society became enamored of ERA
and for the next twenty years ERA was advocated by the Jehovah's Witnesses.*
One even invented his own version of the black box, the
Electronic Radio Biola.
Another Jehovah's Witness, however, considered ERA "demonism."

A few years after Abram's death, Ruth Drown (1891-1965)
took the baton from Abrams and created her own therapy and black box. While Abrams was a San Francisco physician who had
studied medicine in Europe, Ruth Drown was a
naturopath and osteopath. She called her
work
Drown Radio Therapy. Her black box was said to be tuned to the patient
and capable of transmitting healing energy across vast distances. She
claimed to be able to take "radio photographs" of internal organs
from a drop
of blood and transmit radiation to stop bleeding (Williams: 89). Drown's
black box was tested at the University of Chicago but it failed to work as
promised.
"Researchers who have put Drown and other radionics advocates to the test
have been unable to verify their diagnostic claims" (Williams: 2).
Contemporary practitioners like
Linda Lancaster
claim to have "successfully treated" thousands of customers with radionics
and a medicine bag full of similar energy cures.

Abrams diagnosed patients both in person and at a
distance. In person, he would hook up his machine (with a drop of the
patient's blood in it) by a wire to the patient. By tapping on the stomach
of the patient, claimed Abrams, a vibration would be sent through the
patient's spine that he could measure and then translate into
medical diagnosis. At a distance, he'd use the procedure mentioned above
where he would compare the energy of the blood of a healthy person with that of the patient. The American Medical Association
(AMA) sent Abrams the blood of a healthy guinea pig for analysis, which
Abrams diagnosed as coming from someone with cancer, a streptococcus
infection, and sinus problems (Williams: 37). The AMA had one of the black
boxes opened and examined. They found "an ohmmeter, a rheostat, a condenser,
and a magnetic interrupter" but found nothing in the machine that could
either read or send energy waves as Abrams had been claiming.

In England, a civil
engineer got on the radionics bandwagon by inventing his own version of the
black box. George De La Warr (1905-1969) was introduced to Drown's "Homo
Vibra Ray Instrument" during WWII. He thought it was useful in treating
pneumonia.*
After the war, he invented his own device. He put a rubber pad on top of his
black box and claimed that by stroking the pad with his fingers "the needle
on the ohmmeter would tend to stick at various points indicative of diseased
conditions" (Williams: 37).

His boxes had a number of dials which
were to be twisted until the stroking of the rubber pad seemed to change
in character. The setting of the dials then gave the operator a number.
Each box was accompanied by the Guide to Clinical Condition, a list of
numbers that could be consulted to determine the medical condition of the
subject. For example, 901 would mean “toxins” and 907 would be “fracture.”
A “bruise” was indicated by 80799, and 60404 meant a “secretion
imbalance.” (Randi
1995).

The reasoning behind Abrams's theories
are given by an admirer:

In view of the electronic structure of
matter and its general property of radioactivity, Dr. Abrams conceived the
idea that in order to uproot a disease in the organism it is essential to go
beyond the cellular tissues and really get at the electronic structures of
the atoms. It seemed reasonable to his mind that disease is capable of
producing certain changes in the rate or manner of rotation of the electrons
in the affected atoms, and that so long as the electrons are not vibrating
normally the entire organism will be out of balance. All this sounds
logical, but how to correct the abnormality of the electronic vibrations is
the great problem. It is manifest that the planetary electrons of atomic
systems are capable of many different motions at once, even as planets of a
solar system undergo several simultaneous motions in their orbital journeys.
It appeared to Abrams, therefore, that each disease may have its
characteristic vibratory rate, or rather the power to affect the motion of
the electrons in a characteristic way, without destroying the vibratory
motions which the electrons previously possessed, if this be so, an
electronic analysis of the blood or tissues should reveal the existence of
whatever diseases may be present therein, provided a means could be devised
to do this. Being of an inventive turn of mind, Dr. Abrams set upon the
task of developing an apparatus that would sort out these hypothetical
vibratory rates and record them separately. . . .*

The users of the black boxes may
be able to produce measurable readings on ohmmeters or rheostats, but there
is no justification for assuming that the measure of electrical resistance
has anything to do with healthy or diseased vibrations of electrons or energies.
However,
advocates do not necessarily identify energy or vibrations with
radiation or electromagnetic fields, as Abrams did. They are as likely to identify the
energy with auras, chi, or
orgone as with anything
physical. For example:

... one of Abrams's many imitators was
Royal Raymond Rife (1888-1971),
an American who claimed that cancer was caused by bacteria. During the
1920s, he claimed to have developed a powerful microscope that could detect
living microbes by the color of auras emitted by their vibratory rates. His
Rife Frequency Generator allegedly generates radio waves with precisely the
same frequency, causing the offending bacteria to shatter in the same manner
as a crystal glass breaks in response to the voice of an opera singer. The
American Cancer Society has pointed out that although sound waves can
produce vibrations that break glass, radio waves at the power level emitted
by a Rife generator
do not have sufficient energy to destroy bacteria.*

When all tests fail to
find either that the black boxes work as they are supposed to work or that
they are simply measuring electrical resistance, proponents assert that
there is a paranormal element that is "integral to radionics, noting that
the radiations being measured are similar to those felt by a
dowser" and the person operating the
machine must have some paranormal powers (Williams 37).

Practitioners point to their many
satisfied customers as
the only evidence needed to support their claims about the wonders of radionics.
Of course, dead customers don't leave testimonials.* It is true that Abrams and De La Warr rented out black boxes and
made formidable fortunes doing so. Drown sold her black boxes and also made
a healthy profit. To this day, there are many "energy healers" still using
electronic boxes of some sort which they apply to plants, animals, humans,
soil, or whatever strikes their fancy.*
These healers claim to know which vibrations or frequencies are good and
which are bad. They claim to know how to detect these energies or produce
them. Thus, they can both diagnose and treat, usually with the same magical
black box. One contemporary advocate describes radionics this way:

Radionics is a methodology for the detection and
manipulation of subtle energies linked to physical matter: animal, vegetable
or mineral. It is generally known as a system of vibrational healing wherein
curiously configured "black boxes" are used to detect and treat disease
conditions of a living body, be it animal or vegetable, anywhere in the
universe.*

Another advocate adds this curious bit of information:

... as Radionic treatment takes place at a non-physical
level, it cannot harm any living tissue or produce any unnatural side
effects. Radionics is concerned with healing of the whole man, with the
health pattern or entelechy of the individual. The health pattern is a
singular, unitary force within the structures of man that ensures adequate
and optimum functioning of the systems of his body.*

The reader may wonder how something that does not take
place at the physical level can have any effect on the health or disease of the
body. You may wonder how it is possible to heal the whole without affecting
the parts. You may wonder why any of this stuff is called radionics. Frankly, I have no idea.
The reader may also wonder if the practitioners of radionics are frauds.
Some may be, but many are well-meaning but deluded individuals. They are
unaware that they are being unconsciously directed to have their fingers or
rods "stick" at certain points and give them certain readings. To them, the
black boxes are sensitive to energies, not their own subconscious
expectations. Their metaphysical biases and beliefs regarding vibrations,
frequencies, and the like are confirmed each time the machine works as
expected and each time a patient is deemed to be satisfied. On the other
hand, if you are looking for objective evidence that any of these devices
work as claimed, you will be disappointed. They are rarely tested under
properly controlled conditions, but when they are, they always fail.

Quackery involving machines that supposedly detect and
cure illnesses by picking up "frequencies" or "vibrations" is rampant.
(For a sampling click
here,
here,
here,
here, and
here.) The appeal is two-fold: the patient avoids surgery and drugs; and
the patient gets treated by a non-invasive magical device that science-based medicine
doesn't want anyone to know about. Of course, if these machines worked,
scientific medicine would be the first to use them.

Some of the quacks claim they can diagnose allergies by
using biofeedback (galvanic
skin response, just like the polygraph!).
They claim to read the digital frequencies of allergens. Allergens don't
have digital frequencies and if they did, a galvanic skin response meter
wouldn't help since all it measures is the resistance of the skin to a small
electrical current. One outfit,
AllergiCare Relief Centers, not only uses the bogus biofeedback machine,
it uses a laser light to stimulate imaginary "biomeridian" points (à la
acupuncture), which allegedly strengthens organs
so they don't react to the allergens in the future. Another device, the
PAP-IMI, promises the
patient can avoid chemotherapy. U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee called for a
congressional investigation into "energy medicine" machines after a
5-month-old boy died following a useless treatment with the PAP-IMI machine.*

Rife Device
Marketer Sentenced to Prison by Stephen Barrett, M.D. "In February 2009,
a jury found James Folsom guilty of 26 felony counts relating to his sale of
unapproved medical devices....Folsom was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and
was sentenced to 59 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised
release. The judge also ordered the destruction of more than 450 devices
that the government had seized during the execution of a search warrant at a
self-storage unit used by Folsom."